Rise Of The Black Sovereign

Chapter 2

Kael turned.

Darius Kane was walking toward them across the promotion hall floor, flanked by two of his cousins, a champagne glass already in his hand, and an expression on his face that told Kael the evening had only just begun to get worse.

"Reginald." Darius's voice was smooth and unhurried, carrying easily across the hushed crowd. "I was told there was a disturbance."

"There was," Reginald said, gesturing at Kael like he was presenting evidence. "This man here cornered Lyanna, made threats, and attempted some kind of public proposal in the middle of her promotion ceremony. In front of the Council observers, no less."

Darius's eyebrows rose with theatrical delight. "A proposal? Him?" He looked Kael over slowly, the way a man examines something he's already decided isn't worth buying. "You do understand she's engaged to me, don't you? Or were you not informed?"

"I wasn't," Kael answered flatly. "Until about thirty seconds ago."

"Ah. That explains the confusion." Darius took a slow sip of his champagne, clearly enjoying himself. "Well, now you know. Whatever this was—" he gestured vaguely at the ring box still in Kael's hand "it's finished. It was finished a long time ago, honestly. I imagine everyone in this room could see that except you."

A ripple of laughter moved through the gathered crowd.

"He threatened her," Toren added helpfully, stepping forward. "Told her she was about to lose something. He was being very dramatic."

"Did he?" Darius's smile sharpened. "How exactly does a man like you threaten anyone, Draven? What do you have? A rented apartment? A soldier's salary? I could buy and sell everything you own with what I spent on this glass of champagne."

"Exactly! Who does he think he is to propose to Lyanna?" Someone in the crowd said

"Thank God Lord Kane came in on time, what a nuisance." Another added.

"The audacity for him to think Lyanna will leave Lord Kane for someone as low as him." Another said.

Kael said nothing. Every instinct in him screamed to end this in a single sentence, to let them all see exactly what they were mocking, exactly what kind of man they'd cornered in front of a hundred witnesses.

He could feel the power sitting patiently beneath his skin, coiled and ready, more than capable of ending every laugh in this room permanently but he kept it buried.

It was not yet time, at least not like this. If there was anything Kael was good at, it was self control and so he reined in the urge to blast them all.

"I know who you are," Darius continued, misreading the silence as defeat, warming to his own performance now. "Kael Draven. Same posting for three years. No advancement. No family name worth mentioning. No accomplishments anyone in this room could name if I asked them right now." He turned to the crowd, spreading his hands. "Can anyone here name one thing this man has done? Anyone?"

"Noooooo!!!!"

"He's just a nobody!"

The crowd answered him, which seemed to please Darius even more than an actual response would have.

"That's what I thought." Darius stepped closer, close enough that his voice dropped to something almost gentle, almost intimate, which somehow made it crueler. "Here's some advice, since you clearly need it. Men like you don't propose to women like Lyanna. You don't get to want things above your station and expect the universe not to notice. You exist to make men like me look generous by comparison when we deign to notice you at all."

"Darius," Lyanna called quietly, the first thing she'd said since her father intervened. "That's enough."

"Is it?" Darius glanced at her, something possessive flickering across his face. "He proposed to my fiancée in public, Lyanna. In front of my family's associates. I think a little correction is warranted, don't you?"

He turned back to Kael, and his hand moved almost lazily.

The slap landed before Kael fully registered the motion, an open palm across his face, sharp enough to turn his head, hard enough that the sound cracked through the stunned hall like a whip.

The crowd gasped, some of them audibly delighted.

"Serves him right!"

"Such a gutter rat!"

"Give him another one!"

Kael's head came back around slowly. His cheek burned. His eyes had gone very still and very flat, in a way that made even Darius's cousins shift uncomfortably behind him.

"There," Darius said, shaking out his hand with exaggerated casualness still oblivious to the icy change in Kael's demeanor. "Consider that your correction. Free of charge."

"Darius," Corina said approvingly, "perhaps that will teach him where he actually belongs."

"Perhaps." Darius smiled at Kael, waiting for something like anger, tears, groveling, anything that would confirm the story he'd already decided about the man in front of him but Kael gave him nothing.

He simply looked at Darius for a long moment, the sting fading from his cheek, and something in that silence unsettled Darius more than any outburst could have. A flicker of doubt crossed his confident expression, gone almost as soon as it appeared.

"Nothing to say?" Darius asked, an edge creeping into his voice now.

"Not tonight," Kael answered quietly.